May 11, 2014

MERS in Abu Dhabi: 37 cases so far

A total of 37 people in the UAE have contracted MERS, the latest figures show.

All the cases were found in Abu Dhabi, the World Health Organization (WHO) said, as it announced the potentially fatal virus has now spread to Yemen.

The patients range in age from four to 73, with a median age of 41, and 70 per cent of them are male.

More than two‐thirds affected were healthcare workers, including paramedics, but only one became seriously ill.

Twenty‐eight cases of MERS, short for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, were identified in a hospital cluster in Al Ain City, the first of which was a 45‐year‐old male shopkeeper who died in UAE on Thursday, 10 April. It was reported that he hadn’t recently travelled or had any contact with animals, and it’s not currently known how he caught it.

A further 27 cases were healthcare workers or had had contact with infected people; the remaining five cases, among them a mum and daughter and an unrelated four‐year-old child whose mother had recently returned from a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

Four more cases were reported from Abu Dhabi on Thursday 8 May, but it’s not known whether they’re linked to the cluster of cases in Al Ain City.

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A total of 37 people in the UAE have contracted MERS, the latest figures show.

All the cases were found in Abu Dhabi, the World Health Organization (WHO) said, as it announced the potentially fatal virus has now spread to Yemen.

The patients range in age from four to 73, with a median age of 41, and 70 per cent of them are male.

More than two‐thirds affected were healthcare workers, including paramedics, but only one became seriously ill.

Twenty‐eight cases of MERS, short for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, were identified in a hospital cluster in Al Ain City, the first of which was a 45‐year‐old male shopkeeper who died in UAE on Thursday, 10 April. It was reported that he hadn’t recently travelled or had any contact with animals, and it’s not currently known how he caught it.

A further 27 cases were healthcare workers or had had contact with infected people; the remaining five cases, among them a mum and daughter and an unrelated four‐year-old child whose mother had recently returned from a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

Four more cases were reported from Abu Dhabi on Thursday 8 May, but it’s not known whether they’re linked to the cluster of cases in Al Ain City.